National Newswatch

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Stephanie Taylor

Conservative grassroots to debate DEI, conversion therapy, abortion and immigration at convention

Conservative grassroots will debate amending the party’s policy towards diversity, as well as deleting a clause that says a future government would not support legislation restricting abortion, when they meet in Calgary later this month. Delegates from across the country will gather at the party’s first convention since the 2025 spring election loss to vote on Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s...

Peter Mansbridge, Chantal Hébert, Bruce Anderson

Good Talk -- "Despair versus Hope -- Despair is Winning"

The year is off to a fast start, and so is the Good Talk panel. How worried should Canada be after the US invasion of Venezuela and Donald Trump's constant threats towards some of his closest neighbours? Also, Chrystia Freeland pulls the plug on her Ottawa career and sets up shop in Ukraine. All that and more in our first...

Marco Vigliotti

Conservative insiders say Poilievre on track to easily survive leadership review but changes need to challenge Carney

Conservative delegates will vote later this month on whether Pierre Poilievre should continue to serve as leader, and while party insiders expect him to easily survive, they say changes are needed to defeat the Liberals in the next election. A Conservative insider who previously worked for Poilievre said the Tory leader doesn’t need to drastically overhaul his style but has...

Alex Boutilier

Canadian government still using X amid platform’s child sex abuse material scandal

The Canadian government is not planning any new action against X.com amid the company’s ongoing scandal over AI-generated child sexual abuse material and “nudified” images of women. The social media company, formerly Twitter, has for weeks allowed its in-house AI program Grok to create unauthorized, sexualized images of women stripped of their clothing and child sexual abuse material (CSAM) based...

Darren Major

Freeland resignation shakes up already fluid situation in House of Commons

Just short of majority, Liberals will be down an MP at least until byelection is called. Former cabinet minister Chrystia Freeland is officially vacating her seat in the House of Commons on Friday, leaving the Liberal government — which is within striking distance of a majority — one MP down for the time being. Freeland's resignation adds to what was...

Polls

David Valentin

PCs Lead in Nova Scotia, But NDP Leads in Halifax

A new Liaison Strategies survey of Nova Scotia voters finds Premier Tim Houston’s Progressive Conservatives holding a 19-point lead on ballot support and strong numbers on approval, healthcare, and the province’s relationship with Ottawa but the province-wide numbers mask an NDP lead in Halifax where the opposition party leads 40% to 31%. If a provincial election were held today, 50%...

Mario Canseco

Three-in-Ten Albertans Open to Independence from Canada

The proportion of Albertans who are in favour of sovereignty has increased over the past year and a half, a new Research Co. poll has found. In the online survey of a representative national sample, 31% of Albertans support Alberta becoming a country independent from Canada, up nine points since a similar Research Co. poll conducted in June 2023. Just...

Opinion

Tom Mulcair

Trump doesn’t get the joke about the ‘Donroe Doctrine’

Poor Donald Trump. He’s being laughed at, but he thinks it’s a compliment. A year ago, Trump’s favourite newspaper, the New York Post, first made the amusing change from the Monroe Doctrine to the ‘Donroe Doctrine.’ The former was named after American president James Monroe and his policy on the Americas from two centuries ago. The ‘Don’ in the revised...

Konrad Yakabuski

An impatient Mark Carney would rather bypass the public service than reform it

Prime Minister Mark Carney’s pre-Christmas shuffle of top bureaucrats was one of the biggest in recent memory. And it was likely a prelude to more such changes in the senior ranks of the public service as his Liberal government moves to speed up the otherwise glacial pace of decision-making in Ottawa. Unfortunately, it will take a lot more than moving...

News

Eleanor Wand

Climate advisers ask feds to put Net-Zero Advisory Body on ‘pause,’ say they can’t fulfill mandate in ‘skeleton state’

The Net-Zero Advisory Body is asking Environment Minister Julie Dabrusin to publicly pause the advisory group until she appoints six new members and agrees to regular meetings, part of an effort to get the body “functional” again, says Karen Ross, one of only four remaining members. “We cannot continue in a state in which we are, functionally and operationally, unable...

Dylan Robertson

Canada condemns Russia's use of hypersonic missile as escalation in Ukraine war

Prime Minister Mark Carney is joining European leaders in condemning Russia's use of a powerful hypersonic missile on Ukraine as an escalation. Carney says Russia's second use of the Oreshnik missile is "a clear and dangerous escalation that targeted Ukrainian energy infrastructure and the homes of innocent Ukrainians."

Politician's Pen

Pierre Poilievre

Carney must approve a pipeline immediately

A major geopolitical fault line shifted Saturday morning, as the United States arrested Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro after a quarter century of socialist tyranny. This is a good thing. Canada did not recognize Maduro as the legitimate president of Venezuela, and with him out of the way, we hope that Venezuelans will finally be able to enjoy freedom and democracy...

Adam van Koeverden

2026: Canada's Year of Sport

Opinion (Continued) More

Campbell Clark

In Trump’s predatory world, Canada now swims in a shark tank

If it came in isolation, one might look at the toothless debates over the legality of the U.S. abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and chalk it up as another American intervention in Latin America. But the context is not the same. It’s not just that U.S. President Donald Trump warned Colombian President Gustavo Petro that he could be next...

John Ivison

China is infiltrating Trump’s hemisphere, but not in Greenland

The Danish people are feeling shocked, and not a little betrayed, by President Donald Trump’s threats to annex Greenland, a constituent part of the Kingdom of Denmark, says one of the country’s most senior diplomats. “Denmark has done everything the U.S. has asked of us. They called and we delivered: in Iraq, Libya and especially in Afghanistan, where we had...

Andrew Perez

In 2026, Carney’s biggest political challenge could emerge from within his own ranks

Mark Carney confronts innumerable challenges here at home and globally as he enters his second year as prime minister. But rising economic anxieties fueled by an international trading order turned on its head aren’t likely to be the prime minister’s most daunting challenge in 2026. Instead, Carney’s biggest political threat is likely to emerge from within his own party...

Justin Ling

Canadians won’t let the U.S. government boss them around. But U.S. mega-corporations? Sure, why not

In December 2022, a parliamentary committee launched an investigation into “tech giants’ current and ongoing use of intimidation and subversion tactics to evade regulation in Canada and around the world.” Meta, the tech giant, took that personally.

Supriya Dwivedi

Mark Carney's elbows are up on a bended knee

Prime Minister Mark Carney’s “elbows up” rhetoric hasn’t exactly translated into action, and the recent events surrounding the American capture of Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro are just the latest example of this. Don’t get me wrong: nobody expects Carney or Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand to go out of their way to antagonize the Trump administration with bravado-laden statements. Anything...

Michael Ignatieff

After Venezuela, the Unthinkable Enters Canadian Politics

WHEN HITLER SWALLOWED CZECHOSLOVAKIA in 1938 and then divided Poland with Stalin in 1939, my parents’ generation decided, coming home from the war, to place the sovereignty of nation states at the heart of the United Nations Charter. With the operation in Venezuela, our generation has to ask, and not for the first time, whether anything now survives of a...

David Collenette

Trump’s illegal desire to occupy Greenland are a real threat to NATO and global security

The clinical military extraction of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro last week has exposed many policy and legal issues implicating future American hemispheric involvement, including American threats toward Greenland, a territory of NATO member Denmark. The rationale for the attacks on Venezuela, as articulated by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, was to enforce U.S. law, since Maduro and his wife had...

Lloyd Axworthy

Is there still a place in the world for the Nobel Peace Prize?

When Alfred Nobel drafted his will in 1895, he gave his Peace Prize a deceptively simple mandate: to honour those who had done the most to advance fraternity among nations, reduce standing armies, and promote peace through co-operation and dialogue. Nobel was no romantic: He was an industrialist who invented dynamite and amassed a fortune from armaments, and he understood...

John McKay, Marcus Polowski

To those celebrating the deposal of Venezuela’s Maduro: Be careful what you wish for

For those inclined to rejoice at the capture of Maduro and the display of U.S. military muscle in Venezuela, caution is warranted. What may appear, at first glance, as a decisive blow against a brutal and corrupt government carries consequences that extend far beyond Caracas, and far beyond the immediate satisfaction of seeing an authoritarian ruler displaced.

Lawrence Martin

If it’s any consolation, Canada is far down on Trump’s takeover list

The monster of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, is gone. Good. Most can agree on that, despite the trashing of international law employed by the Donald Trump administration to get him. But as the predator President of the United States warns of toppling other nations – which, for one thing, distracts from afflictions in his own broken country – the task will...

Stephen Maher

Trump’s Venezuela takeover is a warning for Canada. Here’s what we have to prepare for

The good news about the U.S. abduction of Nicolás Maduro is that Venezuela is finally rid of a corrupt, violent and buffoonish leader. The bad news is that the country may soon be under the power of another corrupt, violent and buffoonish leader — Donald Trump — who is itching to use his military might on other countries in the...

Andrew Coyne

When it comes to Trump’s behaviour, the most plausible explanation is the stupidest

Occam’s razor is the principle that the most plausible explanation of events is the simplest. Most often this is true. To account for Donald Trump, however, we need a different hermeneutical instrument. Say hello to Occam’s kazoo: the principle that the most plausible explanation, so far as Mr. Trump is involved, is invariably the stupidest. To understand his motives in...

Susan Delacourt

Looming byelections suggest another lively year in Canadian politics

Chrystia Freeland appears to have developed a knack for making career moves that shake up Liberal governments. A little more than a year since the former finance minister dramatically exited Justin Trudeau’s cabinet, triggering his departure and a whole new Liberal era, Freeland’s announced plans to step down as an MP have set things in motion for an imminent shakeup...

John Ivison

Carney’s docility to Trump’s roguery could come back to bite Canada

In the past days and weeks, we have witnessed the Finlandization of Canada. In Finland’s case during the Cold War that meant, in the words of the Finnish political cartoonist Kari Suomalainen, “bowing to the East, without mooning the West.”

Peter Donolo

There is one U.S. president Mark Carney should emulate if he’s to take on Donald Trump

From “Dr. New Deal” to “Dr. Win-the-War.” That’s how American President Franklin Roosevelt described his transformation in the days and months following the attack on Pearl Harbor and his country’s entry into the Second World War.

Peter M. Boehm

There Goes the Hemisphere: History, Diplomacy, and Trumpian Intervention

Operation Just Cause in Panama. Operation Midnight Hammer in Iran. And now, Operation Absolute Resolve in Venezuela. The American branding of military interventions is its own propaganda sub-specialty. Of course, that last one — Donald Trump’s January 3rd removal of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro from office and rendition to Brooklyn to face drug trafficking charges — comes with its own...

Adrienne Tanner

The reason Carney's response to the Maduro abduction is so unnerving

Like many on the Canadian left, I am disappointed in Prime Minister Mark Carney’s response to the US kidnapping of Nicolas Maduro. “The removal of illegitimate, corrupt, repressive, government leader — uh, Mr. Maduro — is welcome news,” he said this week.

Gary Mason

America’s shocking silence in the face of Trump’s outrages

As a child of the 60s and 70s, I grew up on some of the greatest music ever made. And many of the most iconic recordings of that period were inspired by protest, motivated by the rage boiling up in young people over the actions of the U.S. government. It’s said that Neil Young wrote his searing diatribe Ohio in...

Paul Wells

Canada’s Best Answer to Trump’s New World Order? Build Faster

THAT WAS QUITE THE interview minister of energy and natural resources Tim Hodgson gave to La Presse in the last days before Christmas. “This document is an alarm signal,” Hodgson told Joël-Denis Bellavance, referring to the Donald Trump administration’s National Security Strategy.

Sharan Kaur

By cheering on Trump’s Venezuela raid, Poilievre undermines our rule of law

In the calculus of modern-day populism, there is no greater currency than the decisive act. In an unprecedented moment this past week, the world watched as U.S. President Donald Trump cashed in, deploying American special forces to snatch illegitimate self-proclaimed leader of Venezuela Nicolás Maduro from Caracas and deliver him to a New York jail cell. In the immediate aftermath...

Tasha Kheiriddin

Venezuela proves Trump wants China out. Carney better take notice

Happy New Year. Or not, depending on where you find yourself these days. If you’re deposed Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro, that’s in a cell in Brooklyn, N.Y. If you’re U.S. President Donald Trump, that’s on the catbird seat in Washington, D.C. And if you’re Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, that’s on a tightrope in Ottawa, trying to strike the right...

John Ibbitson

The Conservative and Liberal responses to Venezuela reflect vastly different foreign-policy outlooks

The Liberals and Conservatives offered completely different responses to the Trump administration’s abduction of Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro. Those responses reflect the world view of each party. For Conservatives, foreign policy is rooted in values; for Liberals, in interests. On Saturday morning, not long after word arrived that American special forces had captured and abducted Mr. Maduro and his wife...

John Ivison

Starkly different reactions by Carney and Poilievre to Venezuela are revealing

It seems clear that there was great excitement in the Poilievre household on Saturday morning, as news of the surgical strike by U.S. special forces in Venezuela filtered through. Pierre Poilievre’s wife, Anaida, is Venezuelan, and like many of her fellow citizens, she likely rejoiced in the arrest and deportation of the illegitimate president Nicolás Maduro.

Marco Mendicino

How will the U.S. courts judge Maduro? Look to the precedent of Noriega

The sensational arrest of Nicolas Maduro for conspiracy and narco-terrorism charges, contrary to the national security interests of the United States, was breathtaking by any measure. The now deposed Venezuelan ruler was captured following a covert U.S. military operation carried out beyond its borders, as special forces infiltrated the presidential compound in the middle of the night, grabbed their target...

News (Continued) More

Dorcas Marfo

Eurasia Group warns Canada could be hit the hardest by U.S. political upheaval

A new global risk assessment is warning that no country would be more “profoundly affected” by a political upheaval in the U.S. than Canada. Published Monday, the Eurasia Group’s “Top Risks For 2026″ report cites deep economic, security and geographic ties that leave Canada especially exposed to instability south of the border. Eurasia Group, a political risk consultancy, identifies what...

Rahim Mohamed

Western alienation has declined to a four-year low: poll

Tensions reached a boiling point under Carney's Liberal predecessor Justin Trudeau, whose anti-fossil fuels policies were a major irritant to the region. A new poll shows that tensions with Ottawa are declining in all four western provinces, with perceptions of the federal government improving especially rapidly in Alberta. The poll, taken by Pollara Strategic Insights, finds that half of Western...

Iran demonstrations against regime continue as ayatollah, state media rail against 'terrorist agents'

Iran signalled on Friday that security forces would crack down on protesters, directly challenging U.S. President Donald Trump's pledge to support those peacefully demonstrating, as the death toll rose to at least 62. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei dismissed Trump as having hands "stained with the blood of Iranians" as his supporters shouted "Death to America!" in footage aired by...

David Baxter

Lula suggests Carney visiting Brazil in April, condemns U.S. actions in Venezuela

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva says he spoke with Prime Minister Mark Carney Thursday afternoon and the Canadian leader accepted an invitation to visit Brazil in April. In a social media post summarizing the phone call, Lula also says that both leaders condemned the United States' use of force in Venezuela and call for reform to global governance...

Craig Lord

Unemployment rate jumps to 6.8% in December despite job gain

Statistics Canada says a boost in the number of people looking for work in December drove the unemployment rate higher at the end of the year. The agency said the economy added 8,200 jobs last month, topping economists’ expectations. The unemployment rate rose to 6.8 per cent in December, StatCan said, up from 6.5 per cent in November.

Murray Brewster

French-U.K. Starlink rival pitches Canada on 'sovereign' satellite service for Arctic military operations

Joint project with Eutelsat promoted by French president during G7 summit. A company largely owned by the French and U.K. governments is pitching Canada on a roughly $250-million plan to provide the military with secure satellite broadband coverage in the Arctic, CBC News has learned. Eutelsat, a rival to tech billionaire Elon Musk's Starlink, already provides some services to the...

The Canadian Press

Longtime Liberal MP Chrystia Freeland's resignation takes effect today

Former finance minister Chrystia Freeland's resignation as a member of Parliament takes effect today as she takes up a new voluntary role advising the Ukrainian government. Freeland's absence from the Liberal caucus will leave Prime Minister Mark Carney two seats short of a majority government, despite his party's gain of a pair of seats last year when two Conservative MPs...

Sean Boynton

Macron says Canada ’51st state’ threats an example of U.S. rejecting allies

French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday cited U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat to make Canada the “51st state” as an example of American foreign policy that is sacrificing allies for “the law of the strongest.” Macron’s blunt remarks were matched by similar comments from German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in a separate speech that showed European leaders’ growing concern as Trump...

Two people shot by federal agents in Portland, Oregon, local police and FBI say

Two people are hospitalized after they were shot by federal agents, the Portland Police Bureau said in a statement. It is not immediately clear what their conditions are. The FBI Portland office said in a post on X that the shooting involved Customs and Border Protection agents and they are leading the investigation.

Stephanie Levitz

Official portrait for Stephen Harper finally set to be unveiled

Stephen Harper’s official prime ministerial portrait will be unveiled next month as part of commemorations of the 20th anniversary of the modern Conservative Party first winning power. The painting, by Canadian artist Phil Richards, will be revealed at an event on Parliament Hill on Feb. 3, three years after work first started on the project. The next night, Mr. Harper...

Andrew Coyne

Why international law matters after the U.S. attack on Venezuela

At some point almost every young person comes to one of two startling realizations, that seem to upend everything they have ever been taught. The first: We’re the bad guys. America, Canada, the West: We’ve done all sorts of terrible things! All that rot about democracy and freedom, fighting dictatorships and all that, when it’s our leaders who are the...

Dylan Robertson

What Trump's aspiration to conquer Greenland means for Canada

Canada's closest physical neighbours are in an escalating dispute that risks breaking the military alliance that has protected the nations of the North Atlantic for decades. U.S. President Donald Trump keeps talking about annexing Greenland, the Danish territory where Canada is about to open a diplomatic mission. Here's a look at why diplomacy, climate change and natural resources have put...

Kyle Duggan

Carney to travel to Qatar next week alongside trips to China, Switzerland

Prime Minister Mark Carney will travel to Doha, Qatar on Jan. 18 for a bilateral visit as he seeks to broaden trade relations and drum up foreign investment. It's part of a broader diplomatic trip that will include stops in China and Switzerland, and Carney's office says he will be the first sitting Canadian prime minister to visit the middle...

Catharine Tunney

Ford warns Carney not to cut tariffs on Chinese EVs as PM looks to repair ties with Beijing

Ontario Premier Doug Ford is urging Prime Minister Mark Carney to stand firm when he travels to China later next week and keep the steep tariffs on its electric vehicles in place. Canada opened a trade irritant with China when the government, in lockstep with then-U.S. president Joe Biden, slapped a 100 per cent tariff on EVs — arguing the...

Irem Koca

‘Disgraceful and indefensible’: feds’ failure to release new Defence Industrial Strategy by deadline sparks backlash

'I can’t understand why a government can’t get down to business and operate rigorously,' says Alan Williams, a former assistant deputy minister of materiel at National Defence. The federal government missing its own deadline for the release of its highly anticipated Defence Industrial Strategy can hurt the industry, and signals to other countries that Canada is “inept and incompetent,” says...

Chuck Chiang

Calls for caution as Carney prepares to meet Xi amid new global political order

Former Hong Kong pro-democracy legislator Albert Chan Wai-yip is a longtime critic of China, who has accused its government of "crimes against humanity" after a crackdown on dissent in the Chinese special administrative region. But Chan said it is time for Canadians to look east again, as Prime Minister Mark Carney prepares for a trip to China where he will...

Sarah Ritchie

Conservative MP accuses students of free speech attack after campus event cancelled

The cancellation of a planned event at York University has led some Conservative MPs to accuse students there of attacking free speech. Conservative MP Garnett Genuis says he was denied permission to hold an event on campus on Friday.

Jordan Fleguel

Carney’s China visit could drive a wedge between Ottawa and Washington: Kovrig

A former Canadian diplomat previously detained in China for nearly three years says Prime Minister Mark Carney’s upcoming visit to China is an important diplomatic move but warns that Canadian negotiators need to be cautious about Beijing’s ultimate motives. “China is a very complicated challenge for Canada, even more so now, given all the challenges we have in dealing with...

Steven Chase

Canada asks South Koreans, Germans for auto sector production pledges as part of submarine bid: source

Ottawa has asked the governments of South Korea and Germany, two countries with companies bidding to build the Canadian navy’s next submarine, to facilitate auto industry production pledges in Canada as part of the pitches, a source familiar with the matter said.

Jordan Fleguel

‘Canada is next’: Inuk lawyer says Greenland’s sovereignty must be upheld

A prominent Inuk lawyer and activist born in Greenland says U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent comments about taking control of the territory should be concerning for the entire international community. Aaju Peter, who has lived in Iqaluit since the 1980s, told CTV News Channel on Thursday that she didn’t initially take Trump’s comments about annexing Greenland seriously. “But now, seeing...

Catharine Tunney, David Cochrane

Carney meeting with premiers this month as CUSMA talks intensify

First ministers' meeting planned for Jan. 29 in Ottawa, say sources. Prime Minister Mark Carney will meet with the premiers in Ottawa later this month, the start of a busy year where the mandatory review of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico-Agreement (CUSMA) kicks into high gear. Carney will hold the first ministers' meeting on Jan. 29 and will host a dinner the night...

Jim Bronskill

Ottawa says 25 banned guns were collected and destroyed in buyback pilot program

The federal government says 25 banned firearms were collected and destroyed during a six-week trial run of its buyback program last fall. Public Safety Canada says the pilot project, which took place in Nova Scotia, showed that clearer and more timely instructions are required to ensure the participation of firearm owners.

Kyle Duggan

RCAF commander reports progress on filling recruitment, retention gaps

A substantial entry level pay hike for pilots and the acquisition of new and advanced aircraft are "absolutely" helping to shore up Royal Canadian Air Force pilot retention and morale, says the force's commander. In a wide-ranging recent interview with The Canadian Press, Commander Lt.-Gen. Jamie Speiser-Blanchet said she is seeing signs of progress despite the protracted personnel crisis gripping...

Alex Binkley

Food security is an income not a supply concern

Chrystia Freeland resigning as Toronto MP on Friday

Longtime Liberal MP and former cabinet minister Chrystia Freeland, who was a driving force in Canadian politics throughout the past decade, will resign as a member of Parliament on Friday. "It has been an immense honour to serve my constituents and all Canadians in Parliament since 2013," Freeland said in a social media post Wednesday. "Going forward I will continue...

Minneapolis mayor tells ICE to ‘get the f*** out’ after deadly shooting

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot and killed a Minneapolis driver on Wednesday during the Trump administration’s latest immigration crackdown on a major American city — a shooting that federal officials said was an act of self-defence but that the city’s mayor described as “reckless” and unnecessary. The woman was shot during a traffic stop in a residential neighborhood...

Dylan Robertson

Former envoy says Ottawa is 'parroting' Trump's anti-democratic approach to Venezuela

Canada's former ambassador to Venezuela says Ottawa is "parroting" Washington's anti-democratic line by giving air to the idea of fresh elections in Venezuela. Ben Rowswell, who served as Canada's envoy to Caracas, says Canada should instead be working toward helping install the leaders voters chose in the stolen 2024 election. Rowswell is reacting to a statement issued Tuesday by Foreign...

David Baxter

NDP leadership candidates sprint to final fundraising, membership deadlines

NDP leadership candidates are entering the final sprint to sign up members and raise the last of four $25,000 payments required to be on the ballot. The membership cutoff for voting eligibility and the final fundraising deadline both land on Jan. 28. A spokesperson for the Avi Lewis campaign claims he has raised over $751,000 since the campaign began in...

US says it's seized 2 more sanctioned oil tankers linked to Venezuela

The U.S. seized two sanctioned oil tankers linked to Venezuela in back-to-back actions in the North Atlantic and the Caribbean, officials said Wednesday. U.S. European Command announced the seizure of the merchant vessel Bella 1 for "violations of U.S. sanctions." A Coast Guard cutter had pursued the tanker into the waters between Scotland and Iceland after it tried to avoid...

The Canadian Press

Carney heads to China next week for first visit by a prime minister in eight years

Prime Minister Mark Carney will meet with President Xi Jinping in Beijing next week as he makes the first official trip to China by a Canadian prime minister in more than eight years. Carney's office confirmed the trip on Wednesday, which comes as the two countries move to restore stronger ties after years of trade and political tensions. The statement...

US Poli

Sophie Austin And Tran Nguyen, The Associated Press

Newsom punches back at California's critics and Trump in his final State of the State speech

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- California Gov. Gavin Newsom said the state must stand up to Republican President Donald Trump 's "assault on our values," using his final State of the State address Thursday to contrast his state as a bulwark against what he called a chaotic federal government.

Kevin Freking, The Associated Press

House refuses to override Trump vetoes as Republicans stick with president

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The House refused Thursday to override President Donald Trump's veto of two low-profile bills as Republicans stuck with the president despite their prior support for the measures.

Stephen Groves And Joey Cappelletti, The Associated Press

Senate rejects Trump's military threats against Venezuela with war powers vote

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Senate advanced a resolution Thursday that would limit President Donald Trump's ability to conduct further attacks against Venezuela, sounding a note of disapproval for his expanding ambitions in the Western Hemisphere.

The Associated Press

Russia says Washington is generating 'acute international crisis situations'

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he plans to meet with Danish officials next week after the Trump administration doubled down on its intention to take over Greenland, the strategic Arctic island that is a self-governing territory of Denmark. Rubio told U.S. lawmakers that Trump wants to buy it, rather than use military force.

International

Dylan Robertson

Canada condemns Russia's use of hypersonic missile as escalation in Ukraine war

Iran demonstrations against regime continue as ayatollah, state media rail against 'terrorist agents'

David Baxter

Lula suggests Carney visiting Brazil in April, condemns U.S. actions in Venezuela

Two people shot by federal agents in Portland, Oregon, local police and FBI say

Chuck Chiang

Calls for caution as Carney prepares to meet Xi amid new global political order

Think Tank

Lisa Van Dusen

Policy Q&A: Sen. Peter Boehm on Year One of Trump II

Lisa Van Dusen: Senator Boehm, that was quite a year. Between the trade war, Donald Trump’s renewed undermining of multilateralism, and the geopolitical implications of American degradation — I think Trump’s recent National Security Strategy may have summed it up best as a capstone to 2025. How do you see Trump II, Year One? Sen. Peter Boehm: In foreign policy...

Vina Nadjibulla

2025 Year in Review: 5 Things We Learned About Asia and Canada

The year 2025 was a year of volatility, experimentation, and recalibration across Asia and Canada. Much of the volatility stemmed from U.S. President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariff agenda, which upended global trade norms and injected new uncertainty into supply chains. China, meanwhile, pressed ahead with an increasingly assertive industrial strategy, even as it contended with slower domestic growth and structural...

Vina Nadjibulla

Canada’s China reset just got much harder

Even modest Canadian engagement with China may be judged less on its merits than on how it is interpreted in the U.S. within a framework designed to ‘wind down adversarial outside influence.’

Substacks

A collection of SubStack publishing within Canadian public affairs.

Steven Staples

New submarines may have "unCanadian" weapons

A thorough media scan reveals practically no discussion about this important escalation, which would put Canada among only a few Western navies (the United States, the United Kingdom, and France) that operate submarine-launched land-attack weapons.

Alex Cool-Fergus

If you're not watching what's happening in Québec you're losing the plot

You may want to dust off your Bescherelles, Canadian politicos: the battle for the future of Québec is where things are going to happen in 2026. In case you missed it, today the new leader of the Québec Liberal Party, Pablo Rodriguez, announced his resignation. His resignation was precipitated by a terrible, scandalous month for the QLP — one that...

Dean Beeby

A shrinking landscape for transparency

The federal government this week dumped its load of annual statistics about citizens’ use of the Access to Information Act.

Podcasts

Mamdani, Maduro, and the Biggest Story of 2026 | Everything Political

The Everything Political panel with former MPs Martha Hall Findlay and Tony Clement discuss the new mayor of New York, Zohran Mamdani, his “big hairy audacious goals,” his response to Maduro’s kidnapping, the fight for the soul of the Democratic Party, and if a left wing populism could tap into the same anger and frustrations that Trump has.

The world’s biggest risks, with Gerry Butts

Today, Gerry Butts – former principal secretary to Justin Trudeau and current adviser to Prime Minister Carney – is on the show. Butts is also the vice chairman of the global political risk firm, the Eurasia group, which releases a “Top Risks” list every year. We’ll drill down on a few of them, including their number one risk, the “U.S...

"This is our Hemisphere"

David Herle, Scott Reid, Jordan Leichnitz, and Kory Teneycke provide insights on the latest in Canadian politics.

Jim Balsillie: Is Canada Sabotaging Its Own Economy?

Jim Balsillie joins Steve to discuss how he thinks Canada is sabotaging its own economy, how we have consigned ourselves to being a low value-added petro state, why we are operating from an outdated playbook, and Canada’s productivity crisis. They then discuss a real made-in-Canada approach, why foreign investment is overrated, and how to create a more sovereign future for...